Plant-Based Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

February 19, 2021
Richard Makin
Dessert

Updated: February 02, 2022

1 hour 20 minutes
1 loaf
0.0

This is the only vegan lock-down-proof banana bread recipe you’re going to need! Your kitchen will smell like heaven for about an hour after baking. This is the moistest, chocolate chip banana bread I’ve ever made – and it’s honestly so easy to whip up! So let those bananas go SUPER ripe and you’re ready to roll!

Ingredients

120ml soy milk
2 tsp rice vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp psyllium husk powder
150g plain white flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
2 large very ripe bananas
65g light brown sugar
65g granulated sugar
75g vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
90g vegan dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160c. Grease and line a 19 x 11cm loaf tin with baking parchment.
In a blender, combine the soy milk, rice vinegar and psyllium husk powder. Blend briefly until smooth. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sieve and whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add the flaky sea salt and stir to combine. Set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mash the bananas well.
Add the sugars, vegetable oil, vanilla and thickened soy milk mixture and beat well until completely combined.
Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until combined. Add the chocolate chips, reserving a small handful for on top of the loaf.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. Place on a baking sheet and place in the oven to bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the tin. Place on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool fully before slicing.

This recipe uses soy milk “buttermilk” instead of yogurt or sour cream, which are commonly used in banana bread. It’s easy to make, just whisk together the soy milk and vinegar or lemon juice and leave to thicken. The texture will change quickly and dramatically. The acidity of the vinegar/lemon juice helps to activate the baking soda and encourage the banana bread to rise, while the thickened soy milk keeps the cake lovely and moist.

Because of the acidity in the “buttermilk”, you’ll need to work quickly once you add the dry ingredients to the wet. For this reason, make sure your loaf tin is greased and lined, and ready to go so that you can transfer your batter to the tin as soon as everything is mixed.

I like to use small chocolate chips as they distribute more evenly through the banana bread and don’t sink to the bottom of the tin. If you can’t get hold of vegan dark chocolate chips which are nice and small, be sure to chop some larger chips into smaller pieces before you begin making the recipe.

This banana bread is REALLY moist, so don’t be surprised if it fails the tooth-pick test. It’s very likely the batter will still be sticky in the center of the banana bread once baked. Don’t worry – allow it to cool fully and you’ll find the banana bread keeps cooking for a little while after you take it out of the oven.